


Do You Believe in Magic

by zephfair



Category: Da Vinci's Demons
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hogwarts AU, Humor, M/M, Magic, Multi, Prompt Meme Fill, Romance, suggestive talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10085705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephfair/pseuds/zephfair
Summary: Adding another person to their whatever-this-is isn't as weird as balancing a relationship between three different Hogwarts houses.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tinamour](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinamour/gifts).



> For my dear Tinamour who requested LeoXZoXVanessa for the Hogwarts prompt [here](http://zephfair.tumblr.com/post/156291910940/ive-been-seeing-a-lot-of-au-posts-for-two-person).
> 
> I stand by the assertion that not all Slytherins are evil and horrible since that’s where Pottermore sorted me, ~~and I’m still not over it.~~ So Slytherins are just kind of sly and will maybe manipulate the rules to suit themselves? They’re ambitious, driven, know what they want and will go after it? Plus they are loyal forever. And who does that sound like?
> 
> Caveat No. 2: I’ve never written this OT3 or the Harry Potter universe before. Please tell me if it’s horrible!

Zo was down to his last crumpled pack of cigarettes, and it was only the beginning of October. He’d have to remember to owl Amerigo again, even if the prick made him beg and pay double for more contraband to be smuggled in.

He lit one precious cigarette with a murmured spell and was enjoying the first drag when the sharp end of a wand dug right into his kidney from behind.

“Well, what do we have here? A nasty, filthy Slytherin sneaking a smoke behind the stands of the Quidditch pitch?” growled the low voice in his ear.

“What’re you gonna do about it?” Zo challenged.

“Absolutely nothing, but you’d better give me one right now because I haven’t had nicotine in two days and I’m losing my mind,” Leo said, plucking the cigarette out of his hand and inhaling gratefully.

“You all out?” Zo sympathized and shook another out of his pack for himself.

“Yeah, our prefects started confiscating all paraphernalia after forbidding smoking in our tower and Filch has been cracking down on smoking in the bathrooms. There’s only so many times he’ll believe that I’m practicing advanced smoke signal charms.”

“I thought you brilliant Ravenclaws could come up with a story for any occasion.” Zo slumped down in the withered grass against a support post.

“I can talk myself out of almost anything,” Leo bragged and flicked ash down at Zo who swatted his leg irritatedly.

“Doesn’t explain why you didn’t meet me last night,” Zo told him.

Leo dropped beside him, shoulder leaning on him. “Would you believe that I fell asleep in the common room and two first years drew on my face and by the time I got done hexing them, it was past curfew.”

“I waited for you,” Zo said shortly, but he let Leo sling an arm over his shoulders and pull him to face him. And Zo let Leo kiss him, and after a bite to Leo’s bottom lip to let him know he meant business, Zo ran his fingers into Leo’s hair and kissed him back thoroughly.

“Well, we’re here together now,” Leo said huskily, and Zo knew he’d regret wasting it later, but he stubbed out his cigarette and pulled Leo onto his lap, making sure Leo’s cigarette was out before he caught their hair on fire—again.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon for the two old friends. Zo had known Leo since they were children growing up in a small town that was mostly populated by Muggle borns as well as wizards and witches married to Muggles.

Leo’s family life had been unsettled; his wizard father had always told Leo that his mother was a Muggle who left the family soon after Leo’s birth when she discovered magic. Leo’s father had then proceeded to leave the boy practically orphaned until he’d been taken in by the kindly wizard Verrocchio. Zo’s Muggle father wasn’t around and his witch mother didn’t have much to say about it, so he and Leo had become best friends very early—then even closer as they grew older.

While they were straightening their rumpled clothes after a lengthy interlude, Leo described the mysterious room he’d found on the fifth floor of the castle that seemed like it would be perfect for another tryst the next night. He had some booby traps he’d been working on as one of his many extracurricular activities, and he was prepared to give them a try as an early warning system.

“How did you not get into Slytherin?” Zo asked for the hundredth time over the years as he lit his next to last cigarette.

“I told the hat that I’d take any other house,” Leo said, sharing the smoke. “You know my old man would have loved me to follow in his footsteps which was all the more reason for me to beg for Ravenclaw, and besides, being around such illustrious minds, sharpening my wits and honing the weapon of my brain—”

“Sod off,” Zo said, grabbing the cigarette back and then pushing Leo and making him laugh.

They walked slowly back to the castle, Zo reluctant to leave the sun and warmth of dusk for the cool darkness of the Slytherin dungeons. There were scattered groups of other students in the courtyard, soaking up the lovely fall evening, and Zo nodded at a few other seventh-years he recognized.

Leo was rambling on about something he’d been studying that was probably straight out of the restricted section, when a girl’s voice called his name. Zo turned to see a beautiful girl with the most porcelain skin and gorgeous hair he’d ever seen.

It was with the greatest regret that he realized she was wearing Gryffindor colors.

“Leo, I think I left one of my charms books behind the last time I sat for you. Have you seen it?” she asked.

“Uh, no? When was that?” Leo scratched at the back of his head sheepishly.

“Oh Leo,” the girl said in a very affectionate tone, Zo was sorry to hear.

He must have made a noise because the Gryffindor looked at him and smiled. He was surprised because Gryffindors tended to walk around with their noses in the air and ignore, in particular, the very existence of Slytherins. But he wasn’t too surprised not to smile back.

“Hello, I’m Zoroaster,” Zo said.

“Hi, I’m Vanessa,” she answered, and even stuck out her hand. Oh, there was the vaunted bravery of the Gryffindors. Zo took the hand gently and raised it to his lips to kiss her knuckles.

“Delighted to meet you,” he said.

Vanessa smiled again and didn’t pull her hand away immediately.

Leo said, “Vanessa has so kindly been helping me with some of my new painting techniques, but I still haven’t been able to perfect the spells that capture her beauty and vivaciousness on the canvas.”

“Oh Leo, you’re such a flatterer, but I know you’re really just putting off finishing the painting,” Vanessa made it sound fond but slightly exasperated, and Zo liked her even more if she could recognize Leo’s bullshit.

“Only to spend more time with you, my dear,” Leo grinned brightly and leaned down, meeting Vanessa halfway and pecking a kiss to her lips.

“Flatterer,” she told him again and slapped at his chest. “What were you two doing, sneaking around and looking furtive?”

“We weren’t looking furtive; that’s just his natural state,” Leo pointed at Zo who puffed out his chest.

“You’re a Slytherin,” Vanessa said.

“Yes, I am, but we don’t have to let that rivalry come between us,” Zo told her, looking as wide-eyed and earnest as he possibly could act.

Vanessa narrowed her eyes, looking like she was concentrating, before she said, “Well, you don’t look like you’re particularly slimy or slithering. Unless you have a snake hidden about your person.”

“Only the one in his—” Zo elbowed Leo to make him shut up.

“Does that mean that perhaps we can bridge the great divide, the rivalry, the mortal enmity between our houses?” Zo asked with a flourish of gestures between the two of them.

Vanessa tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and looked thoughtful. “Well. It might be a good idea, for the sake of my own house, if I were to keep an eye on you and spy on your surely nefarious plans to find out more about Slytherin so that we can triumph over you. Of course.”

Zo bowed deeply before her and grinned, flashing his deepest dimple. “I welcome the chance to show off our best side,” he said with a nudge to Leo. “We were actually planning to meet tomorrow night. Leo, tell her about the room.”

Vanessa looked from one to the other and seemed to understand something about how close they were standing and how comfortable they acted around each other. “Are you sure you want me there?”

“We do,” Leo said and Zo nodded quickly.

“You two aren’t…”

“We’re best friends, among other things,” Zo said, and Leo leaned into him.

“Zo’s getting tired of trying to wear me down to give up Ravenclaw secrets, and I could always use a hand keeping one step ahead of a Slytherin,” Leo told her.

Vanessa looked from one boy to the other then smiled brightly. “Well, how can I pass up an invitation like that.”

The next night, Zo wheedled food from the house elves in the kitchens and Leo remembered to bring some blankets that were only scorched and singed on the edges, so they made a passable picnic in the room which was only improved when Vanessa sneaked in with an old portable Muggle cassette player.

“I haven’t seen one of these in forever!” Leo reached for it, but Zo slapped his hands away. Leo lunged and Zo slapped at him again and it turned into a friendly wrestling match.

“Don’t let him have it, Vanessa!” Zo called. “He’ll only take it apart and look for ways to make it work with magic. He destroyed three of mine!”

Vanessa giggled at the two as they rolled around the floor then she sat down beside the spread of food until they came to a laughing stop next to her. Zo looked at her upside down from beneath Leo’s hold, and was struck by the gorgeous image she made in the candlelight. He said breathlessly, “You look like you stepped out of a Renaissance masterpiece.”

“And you, both of you, look like the wastrels out of a morality tale,” she said even as she blushed.

“Well, you wouldn’t be wrong,” Zo said cheekily and Leo smirked at her too.

“If you don’t sit up and play nicely, I won’t share any of my music with you,” she told them.

“Yes, ma'am,” they said as they struggled to untangle themselves.

It was the start of almost nightly rendezvous. Sometimes they could all three meet together. Other times Leo was distracted by his extracurricular research and didn’t show up or Zo was bogged down furthering his studies in divination to prepare for his NEWTs or Vanessa had too much homework and was studying with her Gryffindor friends.

Since everyone knew that Gryffindors and Slytherins were mortal enemies, Leo became the go-between, slipping notes to Vanessa from Zo, copied with the best Muggle love poetry he could find. And Zo couldn’t help but feel jealous when Leo walked openly with her between classes, swaggering as he carried her bag and making her laugh.

He and Leo had always kept their friendship on the down low (Were Muggles still using that expression? Zo despaired of losing his vernacular when he was isolated at the school, it always took him the greater part of break to catch up on the current slang and fit back in—while Leo just didn’t give a fuck), but now he wished he had found the nerve over the years to tell the clique of Slytherins to go fuck themselves so he could hang out with his best friend in public.

But the three met in quiet corners, hidden rooms and niches Zo and Leo had searched out over the years, the radiant Vanessa game to sneak around after hours, and Zoe found out that not all Gryffindors were wankers with holier-than-thou attitudes. And he tried his best to disprove that all Slytherins were, in fact, out to get everyone and plotting to take over the world. Leo just ended up trying out new spells that he created, alternately making things sparkle brilliantly or blow up spectacularly—and then they’d have to run like hell to escape the scene before Filch or Mrs. Norris arrived.

Zo had watched Leo kiss Vanessa goodnight that first evening before she left the room. Zo had taken her hand when she surprised him by kissing his cheek.

After that, they slowly found their way in the relationship they didn’t define but just made up as they went along.

So when the first Hogsmeade weekend date was announced, Zo slipped up behind Vanessa in the stacks of the library and whispered, “You wanna go with me?” and dimpled at her eager smile and “Of course” before she leaned over and kissed him quickly.

Zo cuffed Leo on the back of the head on the way into dinner and said, “Saturday. Hogsmeade” and Leo answered “Sure.” There was a beat before he asked “When’s Saturday?” and Zo rolled his eyes.

That Saturday morning, the students were queuing in the Entrance Hall when Zo joined them, adjusting his warm woolen pea coat. He’d sent Leo a special in-house Howler to remind him, one of Leo’s early inventions that had helped cement his reputation as a brilliant but potentially evil genius. Zo was relieved to see Leo stumbling down the staircase, pulling a wrinkled hoodie over his head.

Zo spotted Vanessa. She was wearing a particularly pretty green skirt with plaid tights and a short navy coat. Her hair was unbound and hung to her waist in waves, and she stood out from the group of female friends that surrounded her like a swan among hens. Heh, that was a good one, Zo thought, he’d have to remember to tell her.

Zo stepped up beside Vanessa and she beamed as two of her friends gasped dramatically and all four took a step back.

“Hello, gorgeous,” he said.

“Hello yourself,” she replied, and with her face tipped up like that, Zo couldn’t possibly resist dropping a quick kiss on her glossy lips. The friends all gasped loudly again.

“Leo, you remembered!” Vanessa held out a hand to Leo as he pushed his way through the crowd of students.

“I was up all night studying how to finally fix that Howler so it only sounds off on the recipient. My roommates will be so happy if I ever figure it out,” he yawned widely then leaned down to kiss Vanessa too. Zo thought that if her friends gasped one more time, they’d pass out from lack of oxygen.

“Where’s your coat?” Vanessa asked Leo, fussing over his hoodie.

“I’m fine.”

“You say that now but you’ll be freezing ‘til we get there,” Zo said, unwinding his green and black scarf and draping it around Leo’s neck. Leo smirked and Zo returned it then moved in and kissed him too.

There was a much louder gasp, the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, and what was probably a human body colliding with one of the suits of armor.

Zo pulled back and wrapped his arm around Vanessa who fit snugly against his side and Leo slipped his arm around Zo’s waist and his hand into Zo’s back pocket. Zo looked around to the shock/disgust/open awe of the students around them.

“Huh,” Zo said, beaming at all of them, “so it turns out Hogwart students only give you weird looks when you date multiple people from multiple other houses.”

“Huh, who knew,” Leo said, and Vanessa just laughed as they swept out of the hall. And they thoroughly enjoyed their day in Hogsmeade. And their stolen time away later, as well.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was: “turns out hogwarts students only give you weird looks when you date multiple people from multiple other houses huh who knew” au


End file.
